As the saying goes, what’s old is new again for the Okanagan Rockets of the BC Major Midget League.
With Assistant Coach Dave Whistle accepting an offer to help his former club, the Cardiff Ice Devils of the British Elite Ice Hockey League, the Rockets turned to a familiar face to help the players and head coach Mack O’Rourke down the stretch.
Misko Antisin who guided the Rockets during the 2009-2010 season has stepped back behind the bench for the Rockets as an assistant coach.
“When Dave had the chance to return to England on a short-term assignment we encouraged him to take the opportunity and run with it” said Rockets general manager David Michaud. “It’s never an ideal situation to have a coach leave for an extended period of time in the middle of the season like this, but knowing that we had an individual of Misko’s caliber able to step in and help has certainly made this process much easier.”
Whistle, who won his return to the bench with Cardiff 2-1 over Nottingham Saturday night, is expected to be away until early March.
Until then, Antisin is more than thrilled to be back behind the bench with O’Rourke and the Rockets. “It’s such a great opportunity to work with these young men. This is a very skilled group and they are so receptive, as a coach, it’s always great to work with such high end players” said Antisin.
The Rockets will spend the week preparing for another key weekend as they travel to Burnaby to take on the Vancouver NW Giants. The Rockets find themselves two points ahead of the Giants in the race for top spot and home ice advantage in the BCMML playoffs. The games go Saturday at 7:45 pm and Sunday at 9:30 am. Games can be seen at www.playfullscreen.com
